EGYPT Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation National Gene Bank and Genetic Resources
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COUNTRY REPORT ON THE STATE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation National Gene Bank and Genetic Resources Second Report on the State of Plant Genetic Resources in the Arab Republic of Egypt March 2007 Note by FAO This Country Report has been prepared by the national authorities in the context of the preparatory process for the Second Report on the State of World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Report is being made available by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as requested by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. However, the report is solely the responsibility of the national authorities. The information in this report has not been verified by FAO, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views or policy of FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of FAO. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 9 CHAPTER 1 THE STATE OF DIVERSITY 11 CHAPTER 2 THE STATE OF IN SITU MANAGEMENT 12 CHAPTER 3 THE STATE OF EX SITU MANAGEMENT 13 3.1 The National Gene Bank and Genetic Resources of Egypt 13 3.2 Botanical Gardens 14 3.3 Other Organizations Participating in the Information Sharing Mechanism 15 3.3.1 The Central Administration For Seed Testing and Certification (CASC) 15 3.3.2 The Central Administration for Seed Production (CASP) 20 3.3.3 Seed Companies 22 3.4 Breeding Programmes 23 CHAPTER 4 THE STATE OF USE 27 CHAPTER 5 THE STATE OF NATIONAL PROGRAMMES, TRAINING AND LEGISLATION 29 5.1 National Programmes 29 5.1.1 The National Gene Bank and Genetic Resources of Egypt 29 5.1.2 Other National Programmes 30 5.2 Achievements of the NGB 30 5.2.1 Implementation of the National Agricultural Sustainable Development Plan 30 5.2.2 Establishing NGB Facilities 31 5.2.3 The NGB Activities 32 5.2.4 The NGB consists of the following sections and labs 33 5.3 Training, Publications and Conferences 38 5.4 Legislative Frame Work 38 CHAPTER 6 THE STATE OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION 39 CHAPTER 7 ACCESS TO PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, SHARING OF BENEFITS ARISING OUT OF THEIR USE, AND FARMERS’ RIGHTS 40 CHAPTER 8 THE CONTRIBUTION OF PGRFA MANAGEMENT TO FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 41 CONCLUSION 42 SOURCES OF INFORMATION 43 ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY t The Egyptian agriculture is facing many challenges, first of all, the limited cultivated area and water supply to provide food for the growing population which exceeded 75 millions in 2006 and secondly to eliminate poverty of the agriculture population by increasing the national agricultural production. t The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Egypt activated the already existed Plant Genetic Resources Programme since 1994. According to the Ministerial Decree No. 1920 of 2003, the National Gene Bank was established to be officially responsible for the conservation and maintenance of plant, animal as well as the micro- organisms genetic resources in the Agricultural Sector in Egypt. t The activities of the National Gene Bank represent an emergency tool for safeguarding endangered plant genetic resources, to deploy and make available these valuable genetic resources to both public and private breeding and research entities and programmes. t It is worthy to note here that Egypt has been a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD on June 1992 and ratified it on June 1994, and to the International Treatyon Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture since August 2002 and was ratified in 2004. Treaty sets guidelines for the process of collecting, identifying, evaluating, maintaining and documenting the plant genetic resources. It also defines national obligations for the sustainable use of those resources by each contracting party. t The National Gene Bank of Egypt was assigned to collect, identify, regenerate, evaluate, conserve and document the plant, animal and microorganism genetic resources in the Agricultural Sector in Egypt. t The National Gene Bank of Egypt was opened on the sixth of October 2004 to be responsible for the ex situ conservation programme in Egypt and, to be the focal point regarding the coordination between breeding programmes in both public and private sectors, seed supply system and genetic resource programme. t MALR appointed the NGB to prepare the Second National Report on the Plant Genetic Resources to be included in the Global Plan of Action of the FAO. t The President of the NGB was selected to represent the Near East Region in the Governing Body of the Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, PGRFA Treaty. t There are Four Major Departments related to the NGB activities and 11 Supporting Sections, Labs in addition to the other facilities. t The cold storage facilities of the NGB contains more than 30 thousand accessions (end of 2006) from the genera and species collected from breeding and research institutions, seed companies, farmers, individuals, international research centers, and from collecting missions. t During the last two years, 13 thousand genetic resources were identified and characterized, 16 thousand accessions were regenerated. t More than 8 thousand genetic resources were evaluated. The evaluation of these genetic resources include field, molecular, cytological, chemical, and biochemical evaluation. t The NGB has documented more than 30 thousand genetic resources in its database. t The design of cold storage facilities was planned to contain approximately 200 thousand accessions in short, medium (active collection), and long (base collection) storage. t The NGB cold stores have 335 m3 of cold storage capacity which can include up to 200 000 accessions. These are divided among three cold stores for short, medium (active collection) and for long term storage (core collection). t In addition to monetary savings from the national budget through completing building up and operating the cold stores in 9 months instead of 5 years with too much less cost (4.6% from estimated cost stated by the international sponsoring organizations), saving the variability and viability of the national genetic resources stocks which was more urgent and critical. t In addition to the cold stores, 2 modern greenhouses were built and 5 acre field for regeneration was allocated. 8 COUNTRY REPORT ON THE STATE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Egypt lies between latitudes 22° and 32° to the North of the equator and between longitudes 24° and 37° to the East of Greenwich line. Egypt has a total area of about 1 002 000 sq.km. of which only 4%of the total area, is populated. Egyptian regions are rich in wild plants and landraces which survived for hundreds of years. These landraces and wild relatives are widely adapted to the biotic and abiotic stresses and harsh conditions prevailing in the new reclaimed lands. The Egyptian agriculture is facing many challenges, first of all, the limited cultivated area and water supply to provide food for the growing population which exceeded 75 millions in 2006 and to eliminate poverty in the agriculture population by increasing the national agricultural production. Under the prevailing pressures including desertification, deforestation, erosion, climate changes and the overuse of pesticides and other agrochemicals, many genetic resources are disappearing at unprecedented rate. Furthermore in the past 50 years new uniform crop varieties have replaced many hundreds if not thousands of local varieties and landraces over large areas of production. These new varieties are selected from the same gene pool resulting in the increasing of vulnerability to pests, diseases and the prevailing abiotic stress conditions. This report is the outcome of three workshops held to coordinate between the activities of the National Genetic Resources Programme as represented by the National Gene Bank and Breeding Programmes representatives from the Agricultural Research Center (ARC) Universities, and other research agencies, Private Sector companies in addition to Seed Supply System entities from public and private institutions. The expected results from this report are: t Improve Egypt’s ability to make decisions about plant genetic resources; t Build stronger partnerships among stakeholders in plant genetic resources management within Egypt; t Increase understanding by Egyptian stakeholders about the status of their plant genetic resources; t Increase Egypt’s ability to monitor changes in its plant genetic resources over time; t Improve the quality of information about plant genetic resources status and dynamics; t Improve the access to and sharing of information about plant genetic resources; and t Enhance Egypt’s capacity to meet international reporting obligations. 9 COUNTRY REPORT ON THE STATE OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE CHAPTER 1 THE STATE OF DIVERSITY Egypt farmers have used genetic variation to select and develop new types and forms from the cultivated plant species since thousands of years. Many plant species and types were known and have been utilized along this long period of time. The history of plant domestication provides ample evidence that biodiversity is the humanity’s best defense against poverty, food insecurity and threats to natural resources.